[AZ-Observing] Re: first impressions - Saddle Mtn/Gasline site
- From: "Peter Argenziano" <pargenz@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 09:49:14 -0700
Thanks for the report, Matt. I was unable to make it out there last night,
and it sounds like the sky wasn't overly cooperative anyway.
I was most interested in your comments about the headlights along Dobbins.
How late did you stay? Did the traffic decrease as it got later? What was
the observed frequency of vehicles?
What impressed me about this site initially was the absence of lights along
the horizon. This has gotten pretty bad out at Flatiron.
I don't think we can eliminate the light dome from metropolis at any of our
desert floor sites, but I found it less intrusive here than at, say, Vekol
Road.
As to drive times, I think it depends on where you're coming from. Surely
those folks living on the northwest side of Phoenix perceive an hours drive
as being ideal. But, a few of the regular observers are driving from the
east valley - so a drive of up to 90 minutes is expected. Speaking
personally, and admittedly in the minority, my 'drive time tolerance' is
closer to 2 hours. This is especially true on New Moon weekend, as I'm
likely staying until dawn anyway.
I'll reserve my final evaluation on this new site until such time that I've
been able to have a night of observing there.
Peter
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt" <mluttinen@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "'AZ-Observing mailing list'" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 1:38 AM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] first impressions - Saddle Mtn/Gasline site
Hello everybody,
I just returned from a short night at the new Gasline site. Myself, Rick
Tejera, and his buddy from work (sorry, I can't remember your name just now)
spent several hours sort-of observing under clear to murky skies. Here is
what I discovered about the proposed site:
It is well over an hour's drive home to my house in Glendale. We poked
along on the way out, but even at the highest safe speed on the dirt
portion, my drive-time will be about 1 hr 15 min. The cattle-guards are
definite slow-down spots, as are the washes.
The Phoenix light dome, while quite a bit lower than at Flatiron, is still
depressingly large. With clouds over the city, a noticeable shadow was
thrown by the reflected light. BUT, south, west, and north is nice and dark
pretty much to the horizon.
As Steve has mentioned, westbound vehicles light up the field. This
happened twice, and the second crested the offending high spot very slowly
(the road descends into a wash at that point), lighting us up for a good 5
sec or more. The only good thing about this is you can hear them coming and
turn away. I know in the past SAC has sought sites that are protected from
headlights, but maybe this will be an exception.
However, even with these issues, Gasline IS better than Flatiron. I guess I
just have to wrap by mind around the reality that the "1 hour" drive-time
criteria will likely have to be relaxed, and other compromises may need to
be made to find a site that works.
I admit it, I have been spoiled by some of the best sites here in Arizona.
BUT even lesser sites like Gasline have their charm, if you think about it.
After all, where else can you study the beauty of objects like M82 and do it
under pristine skies (well, pristine compared to just about anywhere else in
the USA, even if the eastern horizon is framed by nuclear reactor
cooling-tower plumes), while sporadic gunfire sounds in the distance?
Gasline site = 1, Flatiron = 0.
Matt
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